Do we humans love War?

[Cosmic Fury]

lol to that Axer.

I believe that it is human nature to fight.

To seek a challenge and a conflist to prove ourselves with something hard to achieve.

Strife is a core part of our lives, and we live with it every hour of every day. Nothing can survive without a will, and a fight to live.

[Boleslav]

I believe that it is human nature to fight.

Maybe to fight, but not to kill. I would imagine it takes a lot of mental preparation and training to become a soldier, and possibly also counseling afterwards too. How many of us had a grandparent who refused to talk about what they did in WW2?

[woody513]

Maybe to fight, but not to kill. I would imagine it takes a lot of mental preparation and training to become a soldier, and possibly also counseling afterwards too. How many of us had a grandparent who refused to talk about what they did in WW2?

Yeah my great uncle got a bit of shrapnel in his eye but luckily survived... Anyway I agree it's definitely human nature to fight. From my own experience I know that when I run away from 15 people trying to beat me up I love it. When they get to me I love fighting them until I'm on the ground getting nailed... Every animal enjoys sonething if it's winning...

[Rodri]

Personally I prefer to live in peace. Then again, I don't think there has been any real threat to my country's security, or our way of life, in my lifetime. If there was a real threat to our national security, perhaps I would feel differently.

The nearest that I have come to feeling threatened was at the time of the Bali bombing, but that was more about the emotions of the moment, which were mostly shock, fear for loved ones and anger. If there had been more tension between the governments of Indonesia and Australia at the time and if there had not been a co-operative effort to find those responsible, those feelings (which a lot of Australians had at the time) might have become more intense and created a real hatred of Indonesia. (even if that hatred is totally irrational)

The world is not as safe as it once was, or so it seems to us. Terrorists bring violence and death to the places where we once felt safe. It's only natural to feel threatened under those circumstances and the first reaction is to strike back. But who do you strike at if you don't know exactly who is responsible? How do you wage war against small disorganised groups that may live among us and plan and act in secrecy? We have had to give up much of our freedom and rethink our place in the world as a result of a handful of violent acts as our governments struggle to deal with an invisible threat.

Do we as a species love war?
I think you need to ask those who do the actual fighting. I doubt that the answers they give would sit comfortably with most people. The reality of war is so different from anything that we could imagine, that most professional soldiers who have been in active conflict find it extremely difficult to explain the mixture of emotions that they experienced at the time. Our media does a very poor job of detailing the reality because they
a) have a preconceived concept of conflict,which may be coloured by their own political viewpoints
b) don't understand the details of the events as they unfold,
c) don't give much news time or space to the conflict and
d) simply aren't trusted by the military to present a well considered, balanced report.

As an Australian, I am proud of the Australian military forces and the history of the Australian military in conflict. The organisation is now very professional, well run, well trained, and performs it's duties in a manner that does not damage the reputation of our country on an international level.
Unfortunately the same can not always be said of our political leaders, who are ultimately responsible for deciding which conflicts our nation becomes involved in.

I wish I could post up a recent video interview (dramatised to protect the identity) of a returned special forces soldier, as it certainly made me think quite a bit about the nature of a specific conflict, in this case Afghanistan.

Will games replace real conflict?
Personally I doubt it, unless we can find some way to deal with the issues that cause real conflicts. The underlying issues are often too complex and deep-seated to be easily fixed.


Here's a link to the video interview I referred to, please understand that this is an interview with a real soldier that has been dramatised, using a number of actors, so as to protect the identity of that soldier. It is adult in nature, as is reflected in the title. (the ** in the link need to be replaced with hi)

http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/dust-mud-s**t-extended-interview

[woody513]

As a child when it comes to terrorism I am quite scared... My mum was in Euston Road station on the 6th of July 2005: the day of the London bombings...

[Borune]

War isnt an instinct as much as its part of human nature. As it turns out, war is mans favoriteart that he neglects to love. Man in no more than a monkey with extra brians. However, those extra brains allow us to develop extreamly fast and so everything else is also on a bigger scae. Animals kill eachother, we tend to do it on a larger scale. We call it war.

As for the question on if we could ever exist without it. Possibly, but I personaly think the only way we could is if we tought them falsified history. One of complete peace. One that infact would be a lie, but would give them no knoladge of war. Redevelop society from the baby...

[abracax]

Maybe to fight, but not to kill. I would imagine it takes a lot of mental preparation and training to become a soldier, and possibly also counseling afterwards too. How many of us had a grandparent who refused to talk about what they did in WW2?

It is not only in our nature to fight, but it is also in our nature to kill. We have evolved from being hunters and protectors. The world was once upon a time a very cruel and harsh place to survive. Mankind had to fight and kill on a regular basis, even ancient civilizations had killing as part of their culture, such as coliseums and such. Because if you couldn't kill someone yourself, the next best thing was to watch someone be killed.

What has changed is cultures and the ease of every day life. Killing now is no longer a necessity to live, now it is more of a taboo. You only need to kill as a soldier or in the very rare case of defending your life. So as a society we raise our children to see killing as wrong, so if they do end up as a soldier killing another human or in self defense of their own life, they are scarred by the act because it goes against everything they were ever raised to believe.

It's called evolution, there will come a time when we see fighting as completely against everything. As it is now as a society we are not so quick to raise a fist to someone anymore, school bullies are not tolerated and fighting is never allowed amongst children anymore. This is slowly translating into the world culture, wars are becoming less and less necessary. More countries are willing to find other ways to solve a problem instead of committing a force as has been done in the past. Mankind is evolving in many different ways and how we view violence and the results of violence is one of those ways.

[dark_skittles_master]

The real question:

What human doesn't like running into a field of blood and whacking someone's head off?
(Insert smile icon here.)

[Zor]

Maybe to fight, but not to kill. I would imagine it takes a lot of mental preparation and training to become a soldier, and possibly also counseling afterwards too. How many of us had a grandparent who refused to talk about what they did in WW2?

I had 2 grandparents who were like that, both my grandfather and grandmother. hell my best friend wont talk about what is happening over in afganistan.

[armbarchris]

People who dislike the idea of killing do so because of how they were raised. If your tuaght your whole life that killing and war is bad, your going to think that way. A lot of people arn't like your grandparents or your best freind, they have no problem with killing. Look back in history: a thousand years ago do you think ANYONE had an issue with it?